The African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) have earmarked four cities in Nigeria to host the third edition of the All Africa Music Awards, (AFRIMA) which holds in November 2016.

This was disclosed at just concluded 27th AU Summit in Kigali, Rwanda on July 17, 2016.

The four cities targeted as potential hosts for the continental awards ceremony are: Calabar (Cross River State), Lagos (Lagos State), Port Harcourt (Rivers State) and Uyo (Akwa Ibom State),

The AU’s interest emanated from the visions of these four states in promoting and preserving Africa’s rich culture while also inspiring African youths.

The Commissioner for Social Affairs, African Union Commission, Dr Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko said, “The main purpose of the Host City partnership is to showcase the tourism and economic potential of one of the great cities in Africa and promote its strengths to global audience which in turn adds to the GDP of the state and the continent at large.”

While urging the considered cities to passionately vie for hosting privileges, the AUC official pointed out the immense advantages for the host city which include ‘long term investment and job creation; adoption of new benchmarks for city development; increased civic pride and community empowerment; increased tourism and publicity’.

“Ultimately, there is an opportunity to tap into the millions of participants and followers of the booming African music,” said Dr. Kaloko.

Also, AFRIMA Director of Sponsorship/Communication, Ms. Matlou Tsotetsi, explained that these four states are capable of creating global brand equity for Africa.

She said, “The host city will be one that is willing to create value and deep brand equity not only for Nigerians but Africans. It must have the most motivation to host AFRIMA in line with its values; have the strongest vision in tourism, culture and entertainment; have the most adequate facilities, surrounding infrastructure, security and tourist attraction to host the event and should have hosted successful events in the past that attracted both national and or global audiences.”